Timeless
by MoDaD
Summary: Completed. Megakat City, renamed Ultrakat City since its massive growth spurt, has enjoyed a period of comparative peace as it moved into the future. Then, a single night of madness and a single madman changes everything for the SWAT Kats...
1. Chapter 1

Timeless – Part 1  
Author – Modad  
Rating – T

Warnings: Violence Disclaimer: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron," its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.

Mayor Calico Briggs looked out over the unbelievably massive Metropolis knows as Ultrakat City. Spanning a mind boggling 40 miles in length, and 20 in width, Ultrakat City was the largest city in the world.

"And, I just happen to be the mayor too," Callie said as she sighed. The bigger the city got, the harder it was to control. She was glad that Commander Felina Feral had recently taken charge of the Enforcers, now that Ulysses Feral had retired. She approved of the replacement, confident in her ability to lead.

"But, just in case, I still have two vigilantes lurking about the city, keeping a watchful eye on it," Callie said out loud. She took a seat at her enormous desk and examined the pile of papers on it. She then shoved them aside, left a memo on them, and leaned back in her leather bound chair.

"One of the perks of being mayor," Callie said as she laughed at her own comment. For years she had served as Deputy Mayor, back when the city was known as Megakat City. However, due to zoning limitations and overcrowding, the city had been expanded, and overtook nearby cities as well. Megakat City, Megakat Springs, Anakata, and nearby Capitol City had all merged into one, and now Callie was in charge of it.

And, being in charge had become so much easier. Dark Kat was dead, killed in his last attempt to destroy the city years ago. The Pastmaster banished in time, never to be heard from or seen again. The Metallikats had been melted down, their reign of terror back in the 2010′s stopped. Hard Drive had been given a long term sentence, and had remained in Alkatraz for nearly 20 years. Then, there were the others – MadKat, Mutilor, The Red Lynx, Chop Shop, all dead or serving time.

For a city the size of the one that she was running, crime was relatively low, and the Enforcers had managed to keep things well under control. However, there was still the occasional super criminal that managed to make it up to the top, and that was when she was forced to call in the professionals.

Funny, she thought. For decades I've relied on them, and I still don't really know who they are. Callie opened her desk drawer and saw the triangle shaped 2 way radio that she had kept for years. It still functioned, and had managed to serve its purpose well. She closed the drawer and once again faced the city.

"This city will always be safe, as long as those two are around."

Chance Furlong stared at himself in the mirror for a long time. He squinted, and examined, and one of his greatest fears seemed to be taking place. He quickly wiped his eyes with water, then stared again, hoping that it had only been a trick of the light. Nope, he thought, as he gave up trying to deny it.

"What's wrong buddy?" Jake Clawson asked as he walked down the hallway.

Chance abruptly took a step back from the mirror, caught off guard.

"Umm…nothing, just thought I saw a zit, yeah, that's it, a zit," Chance replied quickly, fumbling with his words slightly. Jake gave him a quizzical look at that, but shrugged and moved on.

Chance sighed to himself as he took out his razor blade and turned on the hot water. I can't believe it, he thought as he applied the shaving cream.

Jake continued to walk down the hall, entering the computer room that he had set up. He pressed the power button, and the whole system came online in a second. He took a seat in his salvaged chair and faced the desk that the computer system was attached to.

"Good morning Jake," the computer said.

He made no response as he scrolled though the files using a touch screen monitor. He checked their budget and payment records and blinked as he did. He double checked, then ran a quick diagnostic to make sure there weren't any errors.

"We're done," he said plainly and ran to go and tell Chance the news.

"So, what'll we do now?" Chance wondered aloud as he stood outside in the salvage yard. After so many years of living here, he never thought that he'd ever leave it.

"I dunno, move out for one, go our separate ways perhaps?" Jake asked, as he too surveyed the salvage yard. So many memories, not all of them pleasant, but memories nonetheless.

Chance gave him a look, but then realized that he was serious. They had been together for so many years, they were like brothers. It was hard for him to imagine them being apart. Chance sighed at the idea, but realized that they had spent most of their lives in debt to something that no longer even existed.

"We're gonna have to think this one through buddy," Chance replied as he looked out over the salvage yard.

"How about over lunch? I'm starving," Jake replied as he headed for the salvaged SUV that he had refurbished. Chance made no objection, and followed Jake in, sitting in the passenger side seat.

"Aw man, Jake, why don't you let me drive?"

"No way, buddy, I just salvaged this thing," Jake said as he turned the key in the ignition and set the car moving forward. "And, I don't drive like an old lady either."

Chance was tempted to reply, but decided to keep the mood in a somewhat joyous manner. After all, they were now free men, heading out into the world, no longer restrained anymore. Chance smiled again, feeling truly happy for once, a sensation that he had not experienced in what seemed to be an eternity. As the thought entered his mind, he glanced in the rear view mirror, and looked at himself. There it was again, but he shrugged it off.

I'm not gonna let anything ruin my day, Chance thought as Jake took the road that would lead to the freeway.

Commander Felina Feral sat back in her seat and observed the city through the one of the many windows at Megakat Tower. Numerous times this very particular building had suffered considerable damage, through equally unusual circumstances. Now, it stood in the midst of Ultrakat City, a lone structure that served as a reminder of the old, that was now surrounded by the new.

"Amazing," she said to no one in particular as she sipped on her Coca Cola. She tasted the almost bitter liquid, boosted by the carbonation entering her mouth. She then sighed and craved a little something extra, but she was, however, still on duty. She put the glass down on the table that she had been sitting at and still waited for her tuna on wheat to arrive.

She signaled the nearest waiter and got the same 'it'll be done in 5 minutes' excuses, and she decided to wait another couple of minutes before she would put her authority into play. She then removed something from her trench coat pocket and examined it in her paws. It was shiny in color, solid gold most likely, and in the shape of a ring. It had the words "together forever" written on it, and she almost felt tempted to laugh at the notion. She put the ring back in her pocket and turned to face the window again.

"Whoa, Jake, I really don't think we can afford this," a voice from the restaurant entranceway said. She turned around and confirmed her suspicions. It was him. She didn't quite know what to do and turned her back so as not to be seen.

"Oh, come on, Chance, can't we at least celebrate our freedom in style?" another voice returned. The other figure shrugged as another of the waiters approached the two and led them to their table. Great, they're coming to the seat next to me, Felina thought as she turned her back even more. I better get out of here before…

"Felina?" one of the two asked, Jake she thought. The other, Chance, turned to look in her direction. She slowly turned to face them and saw the sudden happiness lift from their faces, and was gradually replaced with something more serious.

"Hello, Jake, Chance," she said, not too enthusiastically.

Chance seemed to be the one growing more uncomfortable by the second, and she decided to save him the trouble of having to talk with her. "I was just leaving…" she said as the waiter abruptly put her meal on her table.

"Yeah, I can see that," Jake said, trying to break the silence and making his best attempt to keep Chance from having to speak if he didn't want to.

"Here," she said and left a ten dollar bill on the table. "Keep the change," she said as she quickly got up from her seat. "Um, nice to see you again, Chance, you too, Jake, um…I kinda have to get going now…"

"I understand, nice seeing you too," Chance replied, speaking to her for the first time.

Felina nodded and quickly left.

Jake sighed as Chance took his seat at the table that he had been assigned.

"It's been five years, buddy," Jake said.

"Yeah, I know it has," Chance replied as he removed a ring from his finger. "I dunno, sometimes…sometimes I figure that someday she might…you know."

Jake nodded his reply before he spoke again, trying to choose his words carefully.

"That was a tough time for all of us, Chance, I'm sure that…" he began, but was cut off.

"Look, you don't need to try and sympathize with me here buddy; it's done, it's over, end of discussion," Chance said firmly as he put the ring back on his finger.

Jake sighed and decided that a change in topics was in order.

"Well, anyways, I was thinking about taking a little vacation myself, heading out to Old Anakata. I've managed to save some cash on the side…" Jake began, but was interrupted again. He heard a slight beeping coming from his pager, as did Chance with his. They both gave each other a look, before both unanimously saying the same thing.

"Check please."

A car exploded as it was hit with a renegade projectile weapon, incinerating it before it had time to hit the ground. The side of a building caved in as it was also hit by another projectile as well. A figure, standing nearly seven feet tall, wearing some kind of hi-tech body armor suit was walking down the streets.

"No more!" he shouted as he blew up another building and continued to walk down the street. "No more! The Beast must die! The government is corrupt and has to be stopped!" he shouted again as he launched a missile at a mailbox, blowing it away and scattering mail all over the street.

A dozen Enforcer cruisers pulled up, backed up by tanks and helicopters hovering in the sky above. The Enforcers dressed in full SWAT gear exited and quickly surrounded him, taking defensive positions behind anything that they could find.

"You are the tools of the Beast!" the kat said as he raised his body armored arm and took aim at the nearest group. "The Judge says that you die with it!" he said as he fired a cluster of explosives from his suit. The Enforcers ducked for cover as the area around them erupted in flames, knocking them to their backs.

Felina arrived on the scene and quickly withdrew her sidearm and aimed it at the terrorist. Seventeen years ago she would've opened fire without a second thought, but she had procedures to follow now.

"You're under arrest!" Felina said, wishing that she could just shoot first and ask questions later. "Cease your activities at once!"

The perpetrator merely laughed and fired one of his many explosives in her direction. She dove out of the way as her squad car erupted into flames.

"Open fire!" she ordered as she did so herself. Her Enforcers did so, taking aim and shooting to kill. She took a few shots herself, but then stopped as she realized the kat was still laughing. Their weapons were having no effect on that body armor.

"Fools! The Judge is invulnerable!" the kat said as he took aim again. "Now, I declare you all guilty of serving The Power; the penalty is death!" he said, firing more explosives at the Enforcers. Many did their best to get out of the way, but many weren't so lucky and were hit dead on by the explosives. Felina closed her eyes and opened them again,… to see nothing but a crater where the Enforcers had stood.

"That does it," she said as she stood up and tossed her pistol to the ground. Then, without looking, she extended her arm and clearly stated, "Weapon."

The nearest Enforcer reached into the back of a nearby tank and withdrew an oversized anti-aircraft bazooka. He then handed it to the Commander, who took it and placed it on her shoulder as she adjusted the sight. She knelt on one knee and found the range.

"Fire in the hole," she warned. Some of the veteran Enforcers nearby leaped out of the way, familiar with their Commander's style of justice. She fired, jerking back slightly as the missile shot out of the barrel and raced forward at the one who called himself 'The Judge.'

The terrorist was knocked nearly fifty feet down the street as the missile impacted him and exploded. He bumped into a lamppost on the way and plopped down unmoving.

Felina gave a sigh of relief.

"Go and make sure he's dead," she said, not too happily.

The nearest group of Enforcers slowly walked up to the motionless figure, weapons at the ready. The kat was literally smoking, the front of his body armor charred and blackened.

"I think he's dead, Commander," one of the approaching Enforcers said over his shoulder. As soon as he finished that statement, the figure jumped up onto his feet and slugged the Enforcer square in the jaw. The Enforcer was knocked clean off his feet and landed on the sidewalk nearby, clutching his face. The others that had accompanied him opened fire, but the kat took no notice of it and managed to take them out with either his fist or explosives one at a time.

Chance and Jake had returned to the salvage yard and changed into their SWAT Kat flight suits and were now currently in route with the Turbokat to the troubled area. Something still bothered Chance, and he couldn't get it off his mind. Jake in the back, now Razor, noticed his partner's obvious discomfort.

"What's wrong, buddy?" he asked with concern in his voice.

T-Bone gave him a look in the mirror, one of concern as well. He then sighed and decided to tell him his problem.

"This morning, I found a gray hair," Chance, now T-Bone, replied.

Razor gave him a strange look and tried not to laugh. But, the seriousness that T-Bone had managed to put into it made him realize what it was that he was probably thinking about.

"It can't be that bad. I mean, it's only a gray hair…" he began.

"Only a gray hair?" T-Bone said in a much more solemn manner. "Razor, I'm getting old, that's nothing to take lightly."

"Oh, come on, you're not *that* old. Why, most kats your age can't do half what you do, pal," Razor said.

T-Bone only sighed and drew his attention back to his flying.

"Yeah, whatever," he replied without a trace of enthusiasm.

Razor decided to give up. Once Chance had made up his mind about something it was nearly impossible to change it. He then glanced at the radar and realized they were approaching their destination.

"Looks like we're here," Razor reported as he looked out the tinted canopy of the cockpit. He saw fires and smoking piles of debris. "Well, looks like whoever we're after likes explosives."

"Yeah, then I think we found our guy then," T-Bone said pointing to a tall armored kat, firing at the gathered Enforcers. "And, it doesn't look like he came for the attractions either."

"Roger that," Razor said as he engaged his targeting visor, a quick motion that had become second nature over the years. "Locking on, Spider Missile, Deployed!" Razor declared as the bombay of the Turbokat released a tethered missile in the destructive kat's direction.

The missile followed its course and caught the kat off guard, entangling him in the net-like projections.

"Bingo!" Razor said with his usual satisfaction at having one of his gadgets succeed.

"Nice shot, buddy. Now, let's reel this guy in," T-Bone said as he lifted the Turbokat to a higher altitude, lifting the entangled kat off the ground and into the air. He then noticed the jet jerking slightly as he increased speed. "What's going on?"

"It's our passenger – looks like he doesn't wanna fly," Razor replied as he looked at his screens and saw the kat ripping free of the spider missile and firing at the fuselage. The Turbokat abruptly jerked again as one of the kat's explosives detonated close to one of the wings.

"Better get him off, sureshot, or we might have to walk home," T-Bone warned as he did his best to try and avoid the weapons being fired at him.

"He's too close, he's beyond the range off my missiles," Razor said as his rangefinder blinked red. The jet shuddered again as a deep thud sound could be heard just below them.

"He's getting closer, better ditch the tether," T-Bone said as he swerved the jet sideways, just barely avoiding one of the kat's explosives. The area where the Turbokat had just vacated lit up with fire.

"Roger," Razor said as he pressed the DETACH button on his console. The net released, and the kat fell from the Turbokat, flailing in the air as he shot straight down for the streets far below. Both the SWAT Kats could see the kat plummeting to the ground, and both winced as they watched him impact the street, cracking it.

"Ouch," T-Bone said as he put the jet into VTOL mode and made a quick landing on the street. He shut down the engines and opened the canopy.

Razor was the first to hop out and ran up to where the kat had collided with concrete.

"Oh man…I think he's dead," he said as he examined the motionless body. "Although, it's hard to tell with that body armor on."

T-Bone walked up to Razor, and stared at the motionless form. He knelt down on one knee and gave him a poke with his index finger. Nothing happened and he stood back up.

"Yep, he's dead."

As soon as T-Bone finished his statement, the kat suddenly shot up onto his feet and looked right at T-Bone. Then, without wasting another second, he punched the big kat square in the jaw.

"Oof!" he grunted as he felt the armored paw shoot right into his face, knocking him onto the ground. He fell with a thud and saw stars enter his vision.

"You idiots!" the kat shouted, aiming one of his arms at the fallen T-Bone. "You dare interrupt the Judge during one of his trials?" the kat said as a clicking sound came from his arm. "The penalty is death, and I am going to carry out the sentence!"

Crud, T-Bone thought as he wondered what he could do from his vantage point laying on the street. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to as Razor, out of no where, kicked the kat's arm right as he fired the explosive. T-Bone could see a nearby small building blow up and topple to the ground.

"Watch it, buddy, no one is gonna die here today," Razor said as he took a fighting stance and faced down the kat who called himself the Judge.

The kat laughed and gave his own mock stance and charged Razor head on. Razor had anticipated that and leapt over him, driving him past him and into a street light. A loud clang could be heard as the kat staggered back, but turned around unfazed.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked incredulously as he took aim with one of his arms and fired a volley of explosives. Razor's eyes went wide as he backflipped out of the way of the first one, just as the spot where he had been standing turned into a crater. He then tucked and rolled out of the way of the second one, and leapt into the air and somersaulted as the third blew up in the air behind him. He landed hard on his back at that one, dazed, but alive.

"Very good, too bad this isn't a gymnastics competition!" the Judge mocked as he took aim. He then fell to his knees and slumped forward at an awkward angle. Razor glanced up to see T-Bone was on his feet, holding large piece of pipe. He then dropped it and sat down, out of breath.

"Nice job, where'd you find the pipe?" Razor asked as he got back up, and removed a pair of cuffs from his flightsuit pocket.

T-Bone gestured over his shoulder to the demolished building. He then cuffed the kat and rolled him over on his back, and removed the mask to see who it was.

"Hmm, I don't recognize him," Razor said as T-Bone got up to have a look.

"Me neither, must be new," T-Bone said as he sighed. He then realized that his pulse was going rather fast. "Man, I am getting old. I'm already starting to break a sweat."

"Naw, we're just out of practice. Haven't had too many major crimes lately," Razor said as he made sure the kat was restrained tightly.

T-Bone decided that he might as well accept that and get his partner's worries out of the way, at least temporarily.

"Yeah, I better hit the simulators when I get back," T-Bone replied as he walked back in the Turbokat's direction.

Razor followed him, leaving the kat there for the Enforcers to pick up. A sudden thought came to mind, and Razor felt instantly stupid because of it. 'Never turn your back on em' he thought, and instantly spun around. T-Bone seemed to have the same thought as he turned too.

The Judge was back on his feet, and, somehow, he had managed to silently escape from his restraints and was aiming his arm at them. Wordlessly, he opened fire with a missile that shot right in Razor's direction. Time seemed to have frozen right at that moment, as did Razor. He suddenly felt himself being shoved to the ground as T-Bone leapt into his place.

Razor was on the ground, watching as T-Bone was hit by the missile. It lifted him off his feet, and carried him in the direction of a building just down the block. Razor could see the look in T-Bone's eyes, and couldn't help but yell out "Chance!"

T-Bone looked back at Razor, a look of utter despair as the missile carried him into the glass doorway of the building and into the lobby where he disappeared from sight. Then, the lobby was filled with fire as the explosion cracked windows of other nearby buildings. Glass broke and fell to the ground; the Judge himself was knocked back.

The building was now entirely up in flames and ever so slowly was toppling to the ground. Razor watched all the while, seeing that look in T-Bone's eyes, imprinted on his mind, like writing engraved on a tombstone.

"Whoa, now *that* was a big explosion!" the Judge laughed as he got back up, dusted himself off, then took aim at Razor. "Your turn."

Razor sat where he was, still watching the flames burning as what had been a building was now a massive pile of debris. He stared at it for what seemed like an eternity, hearing a voice in the background, but not really hearing the words.

"Come on!" the kat taunted. "Get up!"

Razor continued to stare at the debris, looking for any sign of life, but finding none. At that moment, the Judge fired an explosive round only feet away from him. Razor didn't flinch, but continued to stare at the building.

"GET UP!" the kat shouted again and fired another round close to him, but not hitting him. Razor just sat there, staring into the fire. A feeling of utter mournfulness welled up inside him, and he just watched.

"Come on, get up – I want to see if you're as flammable as the other one!"

Razor heard what the kat was saying, and ever so slowly, he turned around. He saw the kat, helmet removed, smiling sadistically.

"That's right, get up!" he shouted again, aiming one of his arms directly at him.

Razor stood up, ever so slowly, facing the kat, seeing the evil glare that was being directed at him. Then, a feeling that Razor had never experienced before, at least not to such a degree, overcame him. His eyes welled with tears, and his voice shook as he spoke.

"I'm going to kill you," Razor said plainly as he stared at the kat head on. He took off his glovatrix and tossed it on the ground and steadily walked towards the kat.

"Really now?" the Judge said as he fired an explosive right in Razor's path, taunting him even further. Razor was unfazed and continued to walk, expression unchanging. The Judge was about to fire again, but was unable to. In one quick motion, Razor was on top of him, claws extended, and lashing out.

Felina Feral took note of the casualties, one of the many aspects of the job she didn't enjoy. Six dead, another two dozen wounded. She sighed as she helped those that she could, until the medics arrived. At long last they did, and she let them do their job. She paused to lean against one of the remaining undestroyed squad cars when she heard something very faint.

"What is that?" she asked no one in particular. She signaled for two Enforcers to follow her, and she walked down the street. She found that traffic was eerily non-existent, most likely because of all of the explosions. She continued to walk down the street, and finally recognized the noise as screaming.

"Come on!" she ordered as she broke into a sprint, her Enforcers struggling to keep up. She rounded a corner and froze in midstep.

There, in the middle of the street, was Razor. But, that's not what made her freeze. He was on top of the terrorist, severely beating him with his bare hands, screaming out something as he did. She could already see that that psycho who called himself the judge was unmoving, blood flowing onto the street.

"Razor, freeze!" she yelled as she drew her pistol, the Enforcers doing the same and taking aim at the lone SWAT Kat.

Razor didn't stop, and continued, seemingly with no intention of stopping. She gestured for her Enforcers to go after him.

The first one arrived and grabbed the SWAT Kat in a headlock while the other went for his legs. They managed to restrain him, pining him to the ground. Razor went limp and didn't struggle. Felina could see that there were tears in his eyes and wondered what had happened. She then looked at the Judge and quickly turned away. Dead, no doubt about that. She sighed, then withdrew a pair of paw cuffs.

"Razor," she said as she approached him. "I'm arresting you – you're charged with murder."

Razor made no reply, but was mumbling something about T-Bone. Felina paused and looked over to where Razor was staring. A large building had been totaled and was ablaze with an intense fire. Realization dawned and she dropped the cuffs and stared at the flames as well.

"Chance…," she whispered to herself. She stood there for a while before she said anything else. "Let him go."

The two Enforcers looked at one another, then back at Felina.

"But…Commander…," one of them began.

"Let him go!" she shouted this time.

The two Enforcers shrugged, and released Razor. He could hear the sound of sirens approaching and knew that a crowd would gather soon.

"Leave," she said as she turned away from him. "Leave now – I don't ever want to see you again. If you do, I'll make sure you get the chair," she said plainly, still not facing him.

Razor got up and ran, not stopping.

Ann Gora had been in the news industry for what seemed like all her life, and she had made the best of it, setting a trend in news that had yet to be surpassed. Now, with a slight graying hair and the occasional wrinkle appearing on her face, she had the look of wisdom on her face. But, nothing the guys in makeup can't fix up, she thought confidently as she arrived on the scene, just in time to see Commander Felina Feral walking down the street on foot. Ann quickly exited her car and walked up to her as did about another half a dozen of her fellow media.

"Commander Feral, is it true that the terrorist calling himself the Judge has been stopped?" Ann asked, raising her microphone so that kats at home could hear her response.

Felina had a seemingly distracted look on her face as she replied.

"Yes, the terrorist known as the Judge has been stopped and was found DOA five minutes ago," Felina said. The media was then stirred, all asking questions. She heard someone ask if the Enforcers did the killing, and she made her reply.

"No, the Enforcers were not responsible for his death. We…assume that he was killed by an explosives malfunction with that body armor suit that he wore," she lied.

"Did the SWAT Kats have any role in this?" Ann asked as she had heard reports of the Turbokat in the area.

Felina paused and decided to tell the truth. Hell, they'll find out eventually, she thought.

"Yes, the SWAT Kats assisted in helping us take on 'The Judge,' however, we have received confirmation that the SWAT Kat known as T-Bone was killed."

The media was suddenly silenced by that, all giving their own separate expressions. They began to whisper among themselves, some saying that it was impossible or unbelievable. Felina couldn't take it anymore and quickly stopped the interviews.

"The Enforcers are investigating this matter; we'll have more information for you as soon as we can," she said as she turned away from them and entered a nearby squad car. She heard the sounds of the reporters asking for more and, out of the corner of her eye, watched as the Enforcers moved to keep them back. She sat back in the seat and felt a tear roll down her cheek. She then turned the key in the ignition and drove away.

Razor ran and didn't stop running, all the pain and adrenaline wearing away, being replaced by a deep anguish that he had never in his life experienced to such a degree. He ran until buildings became less and less close to one another, until they disappeared all together and were replaced by wide open spaces. He ran as the sun moved across the sky and was replaced by darkness. He ran, tears still running down his face. Stars one after the other appeared in the sky, and the moon rose into the now night sky. Razor ran and then stopped.

He looked into the moonlit area, and realized he was right in the middle of Megakat Desert. He had stopped running due to the fact that he was at the edge of a large cliff that hung on the verge of Megakat Canyon. He peeked over the edge and couldn't see the bottom. He looked around, saw a catus nearby. A coyote howled in the distance and crickets chirped. He once again looked at the deep fissure that protruded into the earth and made up his mind. He walked away from the canyon, about fifty paces, and looked back towards it.

He then turned around and ran for the edge of the cliff. He took leaping bounds, seeing the edge get closer, the canyon getting larger in his vision. Mere inches away from the edge he skidded to a stop, knocking loose some stones that he heard falling towards the bottom. After a few seconds, he heard them collide at the bottom, far below.

"No, I can't do it…" he said to himself as he took a few steps back. He then ripped his flight suit off of his body, removed his bandana mask, and tore his helmet from his head. He held the items in his hands and dropped them into the canyon.

"Never again," he declared as he turned away from the canyon and walked back towards Ultrakat City.

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Timeless – Part 2 Author – Modad Rating – T Warnings: Violence Disclaimer: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron," its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.

Jake sat in the Hanger, staring at the wall. He had been that way for nearly a week, unmoving, and most likely unmovable. He hadn't eaten since Monday, and it was now Saturday. He had once during the week left the Hangar to watch the news and found that the media was still in a lot of confusion regarding the past incidents of the last couple of days. He found that questions were beginning to arise over T-Bone's death, ones that Commander Feral was having obvious difficulty answering. Jake himself didn't really remember what had happened; his mind went blank when he saw his partner shot into that building with a missile then exploding into a fiery horrific death.

The last thing he remembered after that was standing at Megakat Canyon in the middle of the desert, contemplating suicide. He cringed when he thought how close he had actually come to ending his own life. He then shrugged the thought away, thinking that it didn't matter if he lived or died. He had said it himself, never again, and he had no intention of altering from his statement.

After watching the news, he had once again retreated back into the hangar, staring at the wall, thinking. He thought of what he could have done differently and shook his head as he did. It should've been me who had taken that hit, he thought. Chance shoved me out of the way and took it for himself. He continued to think, and, after many hours passed, he had determined that he most likely would've done the same thing had the roles been reversed.

"God, Chance, how would you have handled this?" he asked out loud, his voice almost echoing in the huge underground facility. As expected, no reply came, and he stared at the wall even longer and decided that three days without word from the outside was long enough. He got up to turn on the radio. The first thing he heard was an Enforcer broadcast, and he turned it up.

"…confirmed, fugitive SWAT Kat known as Razor has been charged with the murder of the terrorist known as The Judge. All units be on the lookout for brown furred male, approximately five foot, ten inches in height…," the radio crackled.

Jake blinked as he listened to the broadcast, wondering if he was in fact hearing things. He listened more and found that what he was hearing was in fact true.

"Murder?" he voiced aloud. I beat the crud out of him pretty badly, enough to get an assault charge or two, but I didn't kill him, Razor thought. Then, he remembered the words that came out of Commander Feral's mouth.

"Razor, you're under arrest, charge is murder," she had said.

Jake replayed the scene in his mind again and couldn't remember when the kat had ever stopped screaming, a gruesome sign, but a sign nonetheless that the freak who called himself the Judge was still alive when he quite literally was ripping him apart.

He sighed and once again took to staring at the wall, not really caring. Sure, Felina knew who he was and where he lived. She knew everything, yet she had allowed him to go free. That won't last long, Jake thought as he continued to stare at the wall. She'll come to her senses and come after me; it's only a matter of time before she does. Jake leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. How long has it been since I last slept? he thought. At least a hundred hours, maybe more. Jake relaxed for the first time in days and allowed the memories to come back to him.

"You know, I always wondered why Obi Wan Kenobi didn't just chop off Vader's head when he had the chance," Chance said, as he chomped down on a handful of popcorn. The movie theater was dark and jam packed with kats.

Jake sat next to him, wondering if he should actually reply or not. Jake gave in, and voiced his opinion.

"Because then Luke wouldn't be able to carry out his destiny and save the galaxy," Jake replied as he managed to sneak a hand into Chance's bucket of popcorn.

Chance gave Jake a dirty look at having some of his popcorn taken.

"Hey, get your own pal," Chance said as he took careful attention not to allow Jake another pass at his snacks.

Jake laughed at burly kat's defensive nature towards his 'snacks' and turned to face the movie. Star Wars Episode 2, Attack of the Clones. Both had their hesitations about the movie, but both decided that they might as well go and see it. They were still in the previews, both anxious for the movie to start. Finally, the previews ended and the familiar Star Wars theme blared on the surround sound. It was just at that moment that Jake heard his pager go off. Chance likewise heard it and rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe it – you know how long it took me to get tickets for this?" Chance asked incredulously.

A resounding "shhhh" erupted from the nearby occupants and Chance merely sneered at them. Jake looked at his pager and sighed.

"It's Callie – looks like we got another 'situation'," Jake said as he started to get up.

Chance got up too, still carrying his 2 gallon container of popcorn.

Jake awoke abruptly and found himself in the corner of the hangar. He looked at the nearby chrono and blinked as he looked again. He had been asleep for nearly 14 hours. He quickly stood up and stretched, feeling the blood rush through his body. He looked back towards the computer control area and saw a picture of both him and Chance there, on Anakata Island those many years ago. He saw Chance in that picture, smiling, seemingly having what was quite possibly one of the best times in his life. He looked at the picture for a few minutes and changed his posture as he did, standing up straight.

"Chance wouldn't give up," Jake said defiantly. He then looked at his locker with the capital letter R scratched onto it. He walked up to it and opened it up, to see his spare uniform and glovatrix both inside. He grabbed the glovatrix and closed the locker. He then approached his nearby work table and opened a drawer and reached in, removing a number of mini-missiles. He then loaded the glovatrix and put the extras in his pockets.

He then walked over to a nearby storage locker and removed a pair of army boots and pants, putting them on. He then withdrew one of his favorite black tank tops and quickly changed into it. He then put on the glovatrix and headed up for the body shop above.

"Razor needs a break; Jake Clawson is gonna have to handle this one," he said as he selected a salvaged dirt bike that lay against the far wall of the garage. He kicked the kick start and revved the engine a couple times before heading out of the salvage yard and back into Ultrakat City.

—–  
She had hated issuing the order, but she had no choice. She had already broken the law by allowing a murderer to go free. She had even yelled at him to do so; her morals had overtaken her sense of duty for just that brief moment. Now, she sat at her desk, the desk her Uncle had once served in. She sat there, looking at the ring, the engraved "together forever" still shining brightly.

"Why'd you have to die, Chance…" she thought out loud just as a sharp knocking on her door separated her from her thoughts. "Enter!" she bellowed as she slid the ring into a compartment in her desk. The door opened, and Mayor Calico Briggs entered her office. Felina quickly stood up, giving the ruling body of the city her full attention.

"Your honor, please, what can I do for you?" she asked, offering the Mayor a sear.

Callie smiled and sat down.

"Please, Commander, at ease," Callie said in her usual casual manner.

Felina took her own seat at the opposite end of the desk, facing the Mayor with her full attention.

"As you know, some unfortunate things have been occurring this past week," Callie began, trying not to stray from the point. Felina tensed up as Callie prepared to speak again. "I was wondering if perhaps you needed some time off."

Felina leaned back in her leather bound chair and placed her arms on the desk, wondering how she should reply. She chose her answer and voiced it to the Mayor.

"Mayor Briggs…" she began.

"Please, Felina, it's me Callie," Briggs said with a comforting voice.

Felina stared at her, those glasses of hers still on her face. The same face she had seen so long ago when Dr. Viper had turned the city into a living mutation. Callie, now older, still seemed unchanged. Felina finally felt herself relaxing as she began her reply.

"Callie, I'm alright. I don't need a vacation, not yet anyways, not until the investigation is finished," she answered.

Callie gave her a look, a look that said she was expecting that. Then, Briggs sighed and spoke again.

"Do you really think he's dead, Commander?" Callie asked, her true concern finally showing.

Felina took her time to respond, deciding that the truth was the best right now.

"Yes, we've found the remains and…" she stopped as the feelings inside her couldn't be contained any longer. She burst out crying, head on the desk, the tears streaming down her face.

Callie got out of her chair and moved to her side, trying to comfort her as best as she could.

"He's gone, and after all I did to him, I never even got to tell him how sorry I was…" Felina cried as Callie did her best to try and calm her down.

"I'm sure that he knew," Callie whispered. She then hugged Felina, trying her best to help her however she could.

Felina returned the hug, feeling somewhat better as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Thank, you Callie," she said, and then sat back at her desk. Callie stayed with her a little while longer as she wondered what would happen now.

The rev of the dirt bike's engine thundered against the tall buildings as he shot down Main Street, seeing the construction crews doing their best to repair the damage that he been caused. Jake continued, heading for the area in which he had lost Chance. That look on his face was still embedded in Jake's brain, like it was a plate riveted to his skull. He couldn't shake the image, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

"Think happy thoughts…" Jake said to himself as he continued, deeper into the massive metropolis.

The Turbokat rocketed through the sky, heading into Megakat City. T-Bone was still pretty cheezed off at having to miss his movie, but kept it to himself as he continued on course for City Hall. The giant clock tower building gleamed in the sunlight, and T-Bone spotted the threat that they had been called to take care of. Dark Kat's Fear Ship was hovering above the building near the roof, like a boat would be moored at a dock.

"I think I found our emergency," Razor said as he looked forward out the canopy. T-Bone grunted his reply and wondered what it was that the giant purple behemoth could be doing.

"Lets pay Dark Krud a little visit, shall we?" T-Bone asked in mock conversation as he brought the Turbokat on an intercept course. Razor grinned as he armed his weapons systems.

Jake smiled as the memories came back to him, happy to have something else inhabiting his thoughts. He replayed the scene back in his brain, the Turbokat landing on the roof of City Hall; and, once again, the two protectors of Megakat City entered the building without hesitation, ready to tackle whatever threat it was that Dark Kat had in store for them.

Wow, T-Bone thought as he ran through the corridors of City Hall, gradually heading up back towards the roof. They had managed to enter the building and ran into about a dozen of Dark Kat's ninjas. The fight hadn't lasted long, and they had managed to get past them with relative ease. What came after was the hard part.

"You are one crazy psycho, Dark Krud!" T-Bone had shouted at the kat, taking aim with his glovatrix. Dark Kat was standing on the far side of Mayor Manx's enormous office, with an oversized bomb. That wasn't the only thing, he had Callie and Manx tied up to it.

"You're too late, SWAT Kats," Dark Kat had taunted in his same redundant fashion. Both of the SWAT Kats had decided not to waste any more time and jumped into action. T-Bone went after Dark Kat as Razor rushed to the bomb, fighting off numerous creeplings as he did. T-Bone tackled the large purple kat with extreme speed, making him drop the detonator.

"You fools!" Dark Kat shouted as he struggled with T-bone. "You'll blow us all up!"

"I thought you said you anticipated everything, Dark Creep!" T-Bone replied as he ducked a wild punch from the purple behemoth. He then returned with one of his own, using his hand with the glovatrix to pummel Dark Kat's face in with one punch. The evil, sadistic kat staggered momentarily and fell to the floor.

"Hey, I think I felt the building shake," Razor said over his shoulder. He was kneeling beside the bomb, examining the wiring when T-Bone approached him.

"How bad is it?" T-Bone asked as he began to untie the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Callie struggled as he did so, and T-Bone decided she would tell him when she was free from the bomb. T-Bone activated the buzz-saw blade on his glovatrix and cut the rope holding the two hostages together.

A loud click could be heard as Callie and Manx were released. She then quickly removed the gag and shouted out a warning.

"Dark Kat said this thing would blow if we were untied!" she said, eyeing the bomb.

Razor gave T-Bone a look, and all the big kat could reply was one simple word.

"Oops…"

"Great, so much for disarming it," Razor said as he stepped back from the bomb. A crimson red digital timer was counting down from ten. T-Bone then came up with an idea, a crazy idea, but an idea nevertheless.

Jake's thoughts were interrupted as his engine stopped and his forward motion ground to a halt. He then realized that it was him who had in fact stopped the two-wheeled vehicle and was now dismounting from it. He withdrew a flashlight from his pocket and crossed into the debris that was encompassed by yellow police tape. The words, "POLICE LINE – DO NOT CROSS," shone brightly in the flashlight's glare.

He crossed it with ease and shined the light on the ground, looking for anything at all. He saw broken chairs, pipes, and other items that could be found within a large office building. He examined further, looking for anything at all. A hair, a piece of clothing, even a stain would be useful.

"Hey, you there!" a voice called from behind him.

Jake froze as he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. He slowly turned and saw an Enforcer looking right at him, weapon raised. Jake was still somewhat in the shadows and hoped that the Enforcer couldn't see him all that well, as Jake couldn't see him all that well either.

"Alright, hands up, you've entered a restricted area," the Enforcer said, gesturing with his weapon. Jake did so, raising his hands up into the air. At the same time he aimed his glovatrix at the nearest lamppost, and fired a grappling cable.

"Hey!" the Enforcer shouted again and actually opened fire at Jake as he ascended up into the air and swung around to the other side of the block. The sound of sirens filled his ears, and he realized that that Enforcer had probably called for backup.

"Looks like I walk from here," he muttered to himself as he ducked into a nearby alleyway and out of sight, just in time as an Enforcer cruiser shot by.

"Hang on!" T-Bone shouted at he lifted the bomb, with Razor's help, and leapt out the window with it, dropping towards the street far below.

"Six seconds, better do it now," Razor warned as he fired a grappling cable back at City Hall. T-Bone quickly unclipped his harness to his jetpack backpack and attached it to the falling bomb. He then activated the jetpack and turned the afterburners to maximum.

"Bomb's away!" T-Bone said as he grabbed onto Razor and swung back up to a ledge on the side of the massive clock tower building. The thrusters on the jetpack ignited and brought the bomb out of its rapid descent and shot it in the opposite direction, back up into the sky.

"Okay, it should blow up in 3…2…" Razor began, but was interrupted as the sky lit up in flame, and the device detonated. "…1, okay, I was one second off, sue me."

T-Bone laughed at that and climbed back into City Hall through an open window.

Jake had wandered the streets on foot for hours now, being careful not to be seen. He had taken a street parallel to Main and was heading roughly in a direction back to the Salvage Yard. He then stopped and wondered what he would do there. Just gonna stare at the wall again for a week? he thought, then shook his head.

"I need to talk to someone," he said aloud. But who? He thought again. He couldn't talk to Chance for obvious reasons. Felina was tracking him down like a fugitive, and Callie was still oblivious to their secret. Jake then almost laughed at the idea.

"Some secret – now that Chance is dead it'll all come out now. It's only a matter of time," he said to no one in particular. Then, an idea came to mind. It was a crazy idea, but the more Jake thought about it, the more logical it seemed. He then reversed direction and headed for a nearby suburb.

The SWAT Kats had made their way back to the Mayor's office and found that Dark Kat was gone. Then, without stopping to talk to Callie, they made their way back to the roof and jumped back into the Turbokat.

"I got 'im – he's heading east," Razor said as he examined his radar scopes.

T-Bone nodded and engaged the VTOL engines and shot up into the air, and engaged the primary thrusters, sending them rocketing forward.

"Alright buddy, take 'im down!" T-Bone said as he brought the Turbokat within firing range.

Razor flipped down his targeting visor and waited for the crosshairs to line up with his target. They glowed red as he locked on and flipped the safety off his control stick.

"Matchead missiles away!" Razor said as he pressed the firing stud and released two of the bulky missiles from the bombay. Once they were released, they shot forward at their target, having their tips ignite in flame as they armed.

Jake entered the upper-class neighborhood, careful not to be seen. A particular house caught his attention and confirmed his thoughts when he saw the name on the mailbox. This is the one, he thought as he walked up the driveway, then up the few steps that led to the front door. He thought about knocking and realized that it might not be appropriate. Instead, he walked to the side of the house, hopped over the fence and made his way to the backyard. He was in luck as he saw the kat there, sitting in a lawn chair, looking up at the stars.

Jake approached, but before he could say anything, the kat in the lawn chair spoke first.

"I was wondering when you would show up," the kat said as he stood up.

Jake made no reply and stood still as the kat approached him. He noticed that he was indeed aging, his hair gone completely gray and his stature slightly bent forward. However, the aging kat was nearly 7 feet tall, and still managed to give an intimidating aura about him.

"I need your help," Jake said plainly, waiting to hear what the kat's response would be. To Jake's surprise he laughed and walked away, heading back to the lawn chair he had been sitting in.

"I never thought I'd live to hear that," the aging kat said as he gestured for Jake to sit down. Jake did so, grabbing another lawn chair and sitting opposite of the kat.

"I don't really have anyone else to talk to. First, I should really let you know who I am…" Jake began, but the kat interrupted him.

"I know who you are; I've known for years," the kat replied. Jake blinked at this.

"You have?" he asked incredulously.

"I've had a lot of free time since I retired, and I needed a hobby," the kat responded. "If you're wondering why I never told anyone or released your secret, it was because…it seemed unnecessary; we've already made our peace, and I figured after all that you had done, it was the least I could do," the kat said, answering Jake's thoughts.

"Well, then you know why I'm here then."

"Yes, I do," the kat said, his tone growing more serious. "I suppose that I could tell you that I'm sorry to hear what's happened, but that wouldn't serve much purpose, now would it?"

Jake nodded in reply as the kat continued.

"And, to answer what you must be thinking – no, I don't think you murdered anyone," the kat said as he once again looked up at the stars.

Jake thought about that for a moment before he made his reply.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I know that you didn't because you can't. It's not something that either you or him was capable of. In all the years you have never killed anyone in cold blood, never, and I'm not so sure that you even killed anyone at all."

Jake nodded. Sure, they had slain their fair share of monsters, creatures, demons, etc…, but never a kat of flesh and blood.

"But, now, I suppose that you came here to talk, is that it?" the kat asked.

"Yes, I needed someone to confide in, and, as strange as it sounds, I chose you," Jake replied.

The kat laughed, and leaned forward, looking Jake right in the eye.

"I do find it strange myself, Clawson, that you would have picked me of all kats, but I suppose the circumstances didn't leave you many options."

"No, Feral, they didn't, that's why I need your help."

Feral sat back in his chair, waiting for what the SWAT Kat had in mind.

"I didn't kill that kat, that I'm sure of, but right now I have no evidence to prove my innocence."

"I believe you; it's all too perfect, that's why I'm wondering why my niece was so quick to judge," Feral said as he scratched his chin in thought. "I think you were set up."

Jake nodded as the thought had crossed his mind.

"I've thought the same thing, but it's all too perfect, and would have to be incredibly elaborate," Jake said, thinking aloud.

"I'll look into this further, but, right now, you had better get going," Feral said, gesturing to the sun beginning to rise over the horizon.

Jake got up and gave one last look at the former Commander of the Enforcers.

"Thanks, Feral, I owe you," Jake said, then turned back and leapt over the fence. Feral watched him leave and made his way back indoors.

Dark Kat watched helplessly as the blips on his radar continued onward, nearing their inevitable destination. He braced himself against his command chair, just in time as the two missiles impacted his Fear Ship. He was knocked to the deck and jostled around as his aircraft skewed off to the side.

"Nooo!" Dark Kat shouted as a support beam was knocked loose and fell on top of him. He was crushed against the deck by its weight, pinned and unable to move. "My Creeplings!" he called, and the pink gremlin-like creatures that always accompanied him did their best to try and lift the beam off of their master.

"No! I won't let it end like this!" Dark Kat shouted, his voice full of rage and wrath. He could already feel his bones being crushed, and he was already becoming short of breath. "Not this way; I won't go down without a fight!"

Jake shook his head at that particular memory as he made his way down the street and away from the former Commander's residence. For some reason, Dark Kat had left an open radio frequency on what would have been his last attempt to cause mayhem and destruction. Jake sighed and decided to remember, even though he knew what came next wasn't all too pleasant.

"Alright!" T-Bone cheered as Razor's two missiles connected cleanly with the Fear Ship, and they could both see that the damage had been done.

"He's dropping in altitude – must've hit him harder than I thought," Razor remarked as he watched the custom jet start to plummet back towards the city far below. Razor was about to suggest that he engage the magnetic lock up, when the craft engaged its afterburners and reversed direction, heading back towards the heart of the city.

"Great, what'd you think he's up to now?" T-Bone asked as he angled the jet around to pursue.

The Fear Ship was using its downward momentum to help propel it forward, and was already approaching the sound barrier.

"Uh uh, I think I know what he's doing," Razor began as he pointed. "He's gonna crash into Enforcer Headquarters!"

"Again with HQ – that's a little bit narrow minded for a supposed criminal mastermind," T-Bone commented as he gave chase, closing the distance between the two aircraft.

Razor was already taking aim, arming the high explosives so as there wouldn't be anything large falling from the sky to hurt any innocent civilians.

"Missiles locked," Razor began, but was slammed into the side of the cockpit as T-Bone veered sharply to the right to avoid the incoming rear-fired missiles of the Fear Ship.

"Crud!" T-Bone shouted as he swung the jet into a loop and managed to miss all but one of the deadly projectiles. The lights and instruments in the cockpit all dimmed as the Turbokat was hit by one of the missiles.

Razor quickly ran a diagnostic program that he had designed specifically for such an occasion. He groaned as he read the readout.

"How bad is it?" T-Bone asked, glancing over his shoulder, careful not to let his guard down.

"We took a heavy hit – landing gear is fried and so are my targeting scopes and my weapons," Razor said as he removed the plating on his console, desperate to try and get it working again.

"We don't have time – Dark Kat's gonna hit HQ in just a couple seconds if we don't hurry!" T-Bone warned as Enforcer HQ grew larger in the canopy.

Razor sighed as the only option that was available came to mind.

"You know what we have to do," Razor said as he armed all the missiles on the Turbokat. He couldn't fire them, but they could still blow up.

T-Bone sighed heavily and knew that it wasn't worth arguing. He kicked in the afterburners and overshot the Fear Ship, taking position right in front of it.

"Eject in 3…2…1…" Razor counted down as he yanked on a release lever near his seat.

T-Bone did the same, sending both kats rocketing out of the cockpit on their custom "Ejektor" seats.

Both of the masked vigilantes watched as the Turbokat veered upward and collided with the descending Fear Ship, instantly lighting the sky in flames, completely destroying the two craft. And, just in time as debris rained over the fortunate Enforcer Headquarters.

T-Bone was about to give his usual sentiments at having lost the Turbokat when the wake of the explosion caught his Ejektor seat and sent both of them tumbling out of the sky. Razor watched as the windows of HQ and the surrounding buildings shattered at the blast.

Maybe I shouldn't have armed *every* missile, he thought as he began to plummet back towards the ground.

"Breaking thrusters malfunctioning!" T-Bone said with just the slightest hint of alarm in his voice. Razor too was having a difficult time trying to stabilize his descent, and found that his breaking thrusters were also malfunctioning. At the very last moment, the two kats managed to regain control, firing the breaking thrusters and shooting forward, just inches from the Main Street.

"Heh, that wasn't so…ah!" Razor started and cut himself off as both the kats had neglected to remember that they weren't all that far away from HQ when they both hit the thrusters.

Jake physically winced at that memory and remembered how painful that had been. Just glad someone was there to help us, he thought as he continued to walk, now heading back into the heart of the city. One thing was for sure, if he was going to do anything he'd need to get the Turbokat back.

He had left it on Main Street when he had run, and he had neglected to return for it. Most likely it was at the Enforcer impound, Jake thought.

"The least I can do is get the Turbokat back," Jake thought as he began the trek to Enforcer Headquarters, staying in the shadows of the newly begun day.

T-Bone was slow to open his eyes, and the first thing he realized was that he had a killer headache. He groaned as he turned his head to see Razor next to him, just beginning to move as well. He then looked up in the sky and realized that they hadn't been out for long. Dark Kat's craft was still in a million pieces, a lot of them still falling back to the earth.

"Uh uh, we gotta get out of here fast!" Razor warned as he remembered just exactly where it was that they had landed.

T-Bone started to get up, but clutched his leg, and found that he couldn't move it.

"Crud, I think I busted my leg," T-Bone grumbled as he struggled to get up off the ground.

Razor was quick to his feet and quickly examined his partner.

"Yeah, it's broken," Razor said as he tried to help T-Bone off the ground. They had to get out of there fast before Feral had them arrested. Hopefully, the explosion gave a good enough distraction, Razor hoped as he helped a now limping T-Bone walk down the sidewalk.

They stopped as they watched an Enforcer Cruiser pull up beside them and both of them tensed, preparing to do whatever they'd have to do. The door opened, and the driver beckoned to them from the inside.

"Get in," a female voice said, and both kats shrugged and got in, just in time as a group of Enforcers rounded the corner, searching for the pilots of the Turbokat. T-Bone craned his neck to the side, slightly cramped in the front seat that was designed for no more than two kats.

"Lieutenant Feral?" he asked incredulously. Razor just noticed who it was and gave a sigh of relief.

"Who were you expecting? Mayor Manx?" she asked as she drove them away to safety.

And, that's how it all began, he thought. Jake grinned at the memory as he approached Enforcer Headquarters, sneaking among the shadows. It wasn't really the best time to raid a facility like this, especially in broad daylight.

"And, especially as Jake Clawson," he thought aloud as he walked around the building on the sidewalks, avoiding as many pedestrians as possible.

Felina concentrated on her driving, being as discreet as possible, avoiding the public eye as best as she could. She didn't need to have to deal with reports about a certain female Enforcer giving aid to one of Feral's most wanted.

"Glad you were around, Lieutenant," T-Bone said as he winced in pain at his obviously broken appendage.

"No problem, after all, I couldn't let you guys get caught. I still owe you, remember?" she said as she took an intersection that would lead to the outskirts of the city.

"Yeah, I suppose not," Razor said, as he wondered where they should go exactly. Megakat Memorial wasn't an option, not unless they managed to get a change of clothes. Then, there was another problem; Felina was with them, and Razor couldn't have her drop them off short of the salvage yard, not without further injuring T-Bone's leg further.

Then, to both SWAT Kat's surprise, Felina took an offramp from the main freeway and was headed straight for the yard, seemingly knowing which way to go. Felina noticed their curious looks and gave a short laugh.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," she said as she continued on her way. Both Razor and T-Bone gave each other their own form of a questioning glance as the Lieutenant made her way to the place they called home.

Jake actually laughed at that memory, remembering the look on his partner's face the moment that Felina had revealed that she knew about their secret identities and their history in the Enforcers. She had said that she wanted to prevent her uncle from finding out who they were, so she investigated, and, after much effort, found out who they were and destroyed all her methods and any evidence that she had uncovered along the way.

"Just to keep us safe," Jake thought aloud to himself as he crawled in the ventilation system of Enforcer Headquarters. With much effort he had scaled the side of Enforcer Headquarters, climbing along in the vertical trenches that supposedly gave the building more aesthetic value. They had served a more useful purpose for the ex-enforcer, providing both a direct path to the roof and a means of hiding from the occasional kat that happened to look up. He had successfully reached the roof and had cut into an air duct using the cutting torch on his glovatrix.

"And now, here I am, crawling through this system like a rat in a maze," Jake thought, taking in the brief irony as he had once done such an experiment during his grade school years. He then listened as the outside muffled noises grew increasingly more noticeable, pausing to take into account what it could mean.

"Well, either I'm above the interior hangar or the appointed protectors of Ultrakat City are having a party again," Jake thought as he pressed his ear to the side of the duct and heard the familiar sound of jet engines and machinery running.

"This is the place," Jake said to himself, wishing that he had someone to talk to. He had grown so accustomed to having Chance nearby to either support or ridicule his ideas. As a matter of fact, Jake thought, I wouldn't mind a ridicule right about now.

He aimed his glovatrix at the duct again and selected his cutting torch, careful not to look directly into the flame as it sliced the sheet metal, cutting through it like butter. As quietly as he could, although it seemed rather pointless, he carefully removed the square of metal and set it aside inside the vent. He then carefully peeked outside and saw that he was, in fact, above the aircraft storage hangar, and there was indeed a lot of work going on. After a few seconds of searching he found what he was looking for. The Turbokat lay in the far corner of the immense room and was seemingly undamaged. But, after another quick look, he discovered that much of the removable hull plating was off to the side and some of his custom made missiles were on a lab table nearby.

"Great, I can just imagine what they broke," Jake grumbled as he looked for the best way to get to his destination undetected. He searched around for another few minutes and found something that could be useful. A locker room was nearby and a change of attire might just do the trick, he thought.

He fired a grappling cable at a support beam on the opposite wall, made sure that the line was tight, and, as gracefully as he could, swung down from the vent on the ceiling and down to the floor far below. He was thankful that the place was as noisy as it was, giving him an advantage. He made his way between disassembled aircraft parts, ducking behind them whenever someone approached close to where he was. After much careful sneaking about, he made his way to the locker room.

"Well, the smell sure hasn't changed," Jake commented to himself as he sniffed the air about him. He approached the nearest locker and used the lock pick mechanism on his glovatrix to open it without making a scene. He dug around inside and found a pair of Enforcer issue technician coveralls, with the familiar logo on the shoulder. He quickly changed into it, finding that it was a few sizes too large for him, but nothing overly noticeable.

Then, acting as though he worked there, he strode out of the locker room, grabbing a pair of safety glasses as he did. Just what I need is to loose an eye, he thought. That would just top off my week.

He didn't go directly to his prized possession as that would have been slightly suspicious. Instead, he took a path that lead him around other resting craft, inspecting them as a tech inspector would do. He was careful not to look directly at any of the security cameras and avoided eye contact from the workers.

After what seemed like an eternity he made his way to the sleek black jet, walking around it, trying to look like he was admiring it, but in reality he was checking it for any damage. Good, he thought as he looked into an opened diagnostic port. They haven't taken anything important out yet.

As best as he could, Jake snuck into the cockpit and ever so carefully took a seat in the pilots seat. He flipped a switch and activated the electrical components and did a quick diagnostic. The Turbokat was flight worthy, missing a few panels but nothing he couldn't replace later. He took a quick look around the hangar and was amazed to see that no one had noticed him.

"Alright, here goes nothing," he said to himself as he began his preflight checks and powered up the engines. The three turbofans of the custom jet engines came to life, roaring over the noise in the hangar. Jake quickly closed the canopy of the cockpit, sealing himself in. Not wanting to go flying out of his seat, he buckled up his flight harness.

By now Enforcer troops were entering the room, all carrying weapons. The first line of them took up firing positions along a row of lab tables, firing their weapons at the Turbokat. Jake winced as the bullets and laser blasts pinged off the jet's fuselage, causing many dings and pings.

Jake switched the engines to VTOL mode and cranked the throttle, sending the jet upward off the floor, blowing over a nearby Enforcer. He held the control stick in his hands, trying to keep it steady. He looked around and saw that the main hangar doors were closed.

"Can't find a door – looks like I'll have to make one," he said to himself as he brought the auxiliary weapons panel online. The Enforcers were getting smarter, and a group of them was setting up an anti-aircraft gun. Jake quickly selected a normal missile, locked onto the nearest wall and fired. The missile deployed from the Turbokat, impacting cleanly with the wall and blowing an oversized hole in it. Jake then kicked in the afterburners, just in time as the anti-aircraft gun came to life, firing deadly red lasers in his direction. The Turbokat responded and rocketed forward, sending Jake out into the sky.  
To be continued… 


	3. Chapter 3

Timeless – Part 3 Author – Modad Rating – T Warnings: Violence Disclaimer: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron," its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.

Summary: Unwanted memories of events that are best left not remembered fill the mind of a certain Enforcer Commander.

The numbers on the altimeter gradually increased as the newly freed Turbokat soared into the now morning sky. Jake flew the jet as best he could, occasionally wobbling the jet from side to side, but overall staying on course. But then again, what course am I taking? Jake thought to himself.

He leaned back in his seat in the Turbokat, a jet that he had designed, yet somehow felt very foreign to him.

"It's just not the same," he thought out loud as he stared out of the canopy. His proximity alert abruptly broke the odd silence, and Jake looked at the radar to see what was causing it. Bogeys, four of them, were lit up on the screen in a green aura, signifying them as "friendly's".

Unfortunately, circumstances had changed, and Jake knew that they weren't going to be friendly anymore.

Felina Feral sat at her desk tapping her fingers, causing a small repetition of noise to spread across her expansive office. Still no word on Clawson, no finished stance on the investigation, and still no remains of Furlong.

She had let Jake go, despite all her training and professionalism. Many times over the past few days she'd wondered if it was indeed the right decision, or if it had even been her place to decide at all. She was personally attached to the situation, something that all the rulebooks made perfectly clear not to do.

"I can see why," she muttered. Crying had lost its appeal after Mayor Briggs had left the previous day. Felina never cried for anything, but she had cried for Chance. Not just for the fact that he died, but also for the fact that they hadn't made their peace with one another.

A sharp buzz interrupted her thoughts as she snapped back to attention, the intercom on her desk blinking. She cleared her throat as she pressed the receive button.

"This is Commander Feral," she said briskly.

"Mayor Briggs is here to see you again, Commander," her secretary stated. Felina sighed, with a mix of relief and worry.

"Let her in," Felina replied. After a moment the door at the far end of the office opened as the blonde and pink-suited Mayor entered the room. Despite being in her mid-40′s, Mayor Briggs still kept an aura of youth about her, somewhat out of place in the aging Ultrakat City.

"So, what can I do for you this time, Mayor? Aside from collapsing into tears again that is," she said with some bitter humor.

"Unfortunately, it's City Hall this time," Callie said with a weary smile. "As time progresses, people are beginning to ask more questions. I've been keeping them at bay as best I can, but I can only slow the process so much without it looking suspicious."

"I know, Mayor. It's just…I need more time before an official report can be made. Felina got up from her desk, walking over to the large window that dominated the room.

"I've never been clear on all the details, Commander. I never have. It's always been an issue of trust. I've trusted a select group of people, and it's always worked out. But I need to know if that trust has been misplaced," Mayor Briggs said as she walked up beside Felina.

"I…I can't answer that at the moment. There are too many conflicting reports, and some previous knowledge that I've had doesn't help too much either."

Mayor Briggs blinked.

"Previous knowledge?"

Felina sighed, deciding it better to let all the details be known.

"As you know, I was friends with the SWAT Kats. What you don't know is how deep that friendship went…maybe further than friends…"

Callie Briggs nearly gasped as realization dawned.

"You had a relationship with one of them, didn't you? And, now he's dead…"

"It's…it's much more complex than that, Callie. We were in a relationship at one time…but times change…not always for the better."

It had been carefully planned. Despite Jake's warnings Chance had decided to go on ahead with his plan anyway. After saving their lives nearly 12 months ago, Chance had taken particular interest in Lieutenant Felina Feral. It was a unique opportunity for the ex-Enforcer, a situation that at last allowed him to bypass his fears.

Ever since becoming a SWAT Kat, Chance had always lived a double-life, a life that prevented him from getting seriously involved with anyone. But, here he had the perfect opportunity. Not only was Felina Feral attractive, available, smart, funny, able-bodied, and well trained, but she also knew of his secret as well.

That was what had convinced Chance to make an honest and forth-coming approach, and it had lasted him 12 months. It sounded corny, but there was no other way to describe it. They were in love.

Now was the time, Chance thought. The time to reorganize my life, and put a better sense of purpose into it. The time to tie the knot.

With his salary alone it would've been nearly impossible to obtain a ring suitable for the occasion, but he still had friends; several of which he now owed severely. He'd lost count of how many free lifetime tune-ups that he'd arranged, but all in all he'd decided it was worth it.

"You're still going through with this?" Jake asked as he entered the garage. Chance was standing on the far end, polishing the 24-karat gold ring that he'd acquired.

"That's the plan," Chance said, holding it up into the light.

"You're sure now?" Jake reemphasized. "I mean, there's no rush after all."

"I'm certain, Jake. Completely, totally 100% certain. I've never been more certain about anything else in my life," Chance replied.

"Well…" Jake began, stopping himself.

"Well…?" Chance asked, a look of concern developing.

"It's nothing, buddy. You go, you have a good time, and you get yourself a fiancée'," Jake said with a smile.

"What happened?" Callie Briggs asked.

"I've always known that my job would always be a boundary for whatever I wanted to do. Law Enforcement always takes its tolls on someone's personal life. But, Law Enforcement at the vigilante level is even greater in its risks, and the tolls it can take on someone's personal life are far more severe…" Commander Felina Feral said.

"You still haven't told me what this is all about," Felina said as she sat across from Chance at a table next to a window overlooking Megakat City. The two were at the newly opened restaurant on top of the newly rebuilt Megakat Tower, both feeling out of place in the upper class environment.

"Alright, I'll give you a clue; it has to do with the date today," Chance said.

Felina gave him a funny look as an idea came to mind.

"Laundry day?" she asked, toying with him.

Chance slapped his forehead and couldn't help but chuckle.

"No, it's something more important than that."

"Ah, something more important than laundry," Felina thought aloud. "Well let's see, if I remember correctly I started dating a certain grease monkey mechanic one year ago today."

"You know, it's usually the guy who doesn't remember," Chance remarked. Felina once again smiled and she leaned over the table. Chance did too, but stopped halfway as he leaned back in his seat. "But, that's not the only reason." Felina's brow arched in puzzlement as Chance got up from his chair. She then blushed, her cheeks turning a deep crimson as Chance knelt on one knee and removed a felt box from his back pocket.

"Felina, for the last year you've been everything to me, and I still want you to be everything for a long time to come, so," Chance paused as he cleared his throat and remembered the words he had practiced a million times. "Felina Feral, would you give me the honor of marrying me?" he proposed as he withdrew the solid gold ring.

Felina was beside herself, and as red as ever as the entire restaurant focused its attention on her.

"I…I…" she stammered, caught completely off guard. Before she could reply, the restaurant was suddenly caught in chaos as the lights went out, and a nearby explosion knocked her out of her chair and onto the floor as the world turned to darkness.

"This sounds too familiar," Callie commented.

"It should," Felina replied. "This was the night that everything changed."

Felina was the first to regain consciousness; the explosion had sent both her and Chance flying across the restaurant. She slowly opened her eyes to see just what had happened. One wall of the restaurant was completely destroyed, and entering was something that she had hoped to never have to deal with again.

Dr. Viper.

He wasn't alone, as dozens of his mutated plantimals followed him inside, all hissing and snapping. They were busy rounding up the unconscious attendants, dragging them all towards the center of the room. Felina decided it best not to act awake at the moment as she glanced over towards Chance. He was laying motionless on his stomach, still breathing, much to her relief.

She then turned her head again to analyze the situation, and sighed. She was going to need help, and she knew how to get it. Moving stealthily she reached over and grabbed onto Chance's jacket, and quickly removed the familiar triangle shaped device from it. As she did, she caught the attention of one of the mutated monstrosities, and it began to charge at her, snarling and foaming from the mouth orifice.

She fumbled with the device momentarily before finally pressing the button in the center. The creature leapt and tackled her; its bite penetrating her skin. She dropped the now blinking communicator and fell backward, the venomous bite taking its effect.  
—

Feeling somewhat left out, Jake had taken to finding ways to entertain himself for the evening. After spending a few hours down in the hangar working on his latest designs, he had come upstairs to order a pizza. Some time had since passed as he turned on the TV.

He yawned for what seemed like the 10th time that night, and he once again looked at the nearby clock. It read 12 o'clock, and he leaned back in his chair in the "living room" of the auto body shop. He had already turned on the David Litterbin show in an attempt to stay awake, but the long day and late night was starting to take its toll. His eyes gradually began to close as he fell asleep, not noticing the blinking emergency communicator on the far wall.

Chance awoke with a start, his Enforcer training taking over for a brief instant as he grabbed whoever it was that had grabbed him and flung it over his shoulder. He quickly realized that it wasn't a he; it wasn't even a kat. The creature he had thrown bounced off the far wall and regained its composure, coming back at him.

Chance got back to his feet and started to take the opposite route as more of the creatures from around the room joined in the fray, converging on him with great speed.

"Seize him!" a voice slithered, and without having to look, Chance knew that it was Dr. Viper, mutated insane biochemist with aspirations of turning the city into a swamp from which he would rule all.

Jumping up, Chance grabbed one of the decorative pseudo-marble columns, swinging around and knocking down the pursuing plantimals feet first. They collapsed in a literal domino effect, giving the mechanic a moment to catch is breath. It didn't last long as he felt a leathery object wrap around his neck.

"I don't know who you are, but you musssssst be taught to resssssspect my creationssssss," the mad scientist said in his slithery lisp, increasing the pressure on Chance's neck.

"Let go of me, you filthy creep!" Chance shouted out as he grabbed onto the tail like an oversized burrito and bit it. Viper howled in pain, releasing Chance. The large tabby took advantage, tackling the mad scientist.

Struggling soon ensued as both fought for what was quickly becoming a battle of survival. Chance punched Viper squarely in the jaw as the evil biochemist returned with a bullwhip slash of his tail. Both were knocked aside by their respective blows.

"Give it up, Viper!" Chance stated. "There's no way you're gonna get away with all this."

Viper snarled and prepared his own returning statement, when he paused rather abruptly. There is something familiar about this kat, he thought to himself. Quickly putting two and two together, Viper laughed aloud.

"Oh, thissss issss too good to be true," the mad scientist nearly exclaimed, clasping his hands together in pure amusement. "Ssssso, SsssWAT Kat, I've managed to intrude upon your persssssonal time?"

Chance's shoulders slumped, and he realized that he had been acting on reflex all this time. Years of being a vigilante had that effect, and Furlong had forgotten just where and who he was. Where and who I am, Chance thought, then snapped out of his phase when those realizations came into focus.

"Felina!" Chance shouted out, dashing off to the side with Viper's eerie laughter following him. The plantimals prepared to attack once more, but with a gesture Viper called them off, intent on watching how the situation would play out.

Chance quickly found that Felina was not breathing, her face had quickly turned a pale blue as the veins in her arms turned purple. Chance saw the bite marks and snarled in anger as he stood back up to face Viper again.

"Quite the predicament it would sssssseem, isssssssssn't it?" Viper observed aloud, his snide sadistic voice slithering with evil intent.

Chance lunged at the mad scientist, driving them both to the ground.

"Cure her!" the large tabby shouted.

Dr. Viper merely laughed in amusement.

"Why sssshould I?"

Chance got up and lifted Viper by the collar, holding him up in the air.

"I said cure her!"

"Not a chance, ssssSWAT Kat, unlesssss…"

"Unless what?" Chance demanded.

The mad scientist snickered, feeling the sensation of victory approaching.

"Unlesssss you reveal who you and the other sssssSWAT Kat are," Dr. Viper began. "To me."

Chance paused as realization sunk in. Felina was mere moments away from death, and the large tabby had a decision at hand, one that had to be made quickly. He weighed the options as best he could. If he revealed Jake's identity, then Dr. Viper would know who they both were, thus being able to not only endanger them personally but also anyone close to them as well. But, if he didn't, then Felina would die.

"I-I…all right, Viper," Chance said, obvious remorse seen clearly in his composure. "You win."

"Excellent, now, firssst the identities then I cure your girl friend," Viper hissed.

"I'm…Steve…Johnson and he's…" Chance stated, hesitating.

"Don't lie!" Viper snapped in anger. "I can see your pupils dilating, I can sense your body temperature fluctuating, I can sssssmell the odors being released from your stench-ridden body. You lie again and she diessss!"

Chance gritted his teeth, barely containing himself. He had no choice.

"I'm…Chance Furlong," he stated through his teeth.

"Now, the other name, or elsssse I withdraw my offer!" Viper snapped.

"He's…" Chance started, and then with a final air of defeat finished. "Jake Clawson."

Viper laughed in a near maniacal manner, having finally done what so many had failed to do. He had discovered who the SWAT Kats really were.

"Now, cure her!" Chance demanded once again.

Now Viper was really laughing, his slithery mutated voice adding to the overall evil of the act.

"You fool! There issss no cure!" Viper exclaimed.

Chance's eyes went wide. In a moment of desperation he had not only endangered himself but betrayed Jake as well. The feelings of guilt were quickly replaced by something else. A rage unlike any other he had felt overwhelmed him as he leapt back at Viper.

"You monster, I'll kill you for that!" the large tabby declared.

The evil biochemist quickly ceased his display of amusement, taking a defensive stance. Blinded by his anger, Chance attacked head on, predictably lunging full speed.

Viper ducked aside and swung around, hitting Chance in the back of the head with the full force that his reptilian tail could muster. Almost instantaneously, Chance was thrown back end over end, landing in an unnatural fashion nearly ten feet away.

Struggling to get back up, the mechanic by profession slumped and fell victim to unconsciousness.

"Idiot," Viper muttered under his breath. "Now, back to businesssss!" the mutated scientist ordered his assembled plantimals.

Jake awoke with a start, the sound of the klaxon penetrating his exhausted sleep. He shot up out of the recliner and rushed down the concealed ladder and into the hangar. Running up to the klaxon, he answered it.

"Crud, how long has this thing been going?" he asked aloud as he listened in for whomever it was that had been calling. "Hello? Ms. Briggs? Lt. Feral? Hello?" Jake asked as no one made an opening statement.

The only reply was that of static.

"Is that…when your uncle…" Callie began, not having to finish her question as Felina nodded in acknowledgement.

The numbers on the panel of the elevator increased as Commander Feral grew tense. The Enforcers had received news of an explosion on the penthouse restaurant of Megakat Tower, and with the building's history of events the Commander had wanted to investigate personally.

The numbers reached their final destination at 300 as the elevator chimed and the doors automatically opened. Accompanied by four other Enforcer commandos Feral walked into the room to find something that even he hadn't expected.

"Felina!" Feral shouted as he ran over to his fallen niece. Her face was a deep violet and her eyes were devoid of their pupils. She lay still and motionless, not breathing or showing any sign of life what so ever. "Get me a medic!" Feral said, and then with further emphasis, "NOW!"

The nearest Enforcer commando immediately took out his radio and issued orders into it as Feral began to perform CPR on his niece. He had barely begun to perform the procedure when out of nowhere a leathery green object struck his back and sent him reeling.

"Two Ferals in one night; too bad thissss isn't the lottery," Viper said with a sardonic air about him. The Enforcer commandos responded sluggishly as they were attacked by Viper's horde of plantimals, keeping them preoccupied as the mad scientist approached the Enforcer Commander.

Feral struggled to get back to his feet, feeling slightly exasperated by the effort. He was in his late 40′s, and the years of physical battering from his job had been taking their toll. Nevertheless, getting back up, Feral faced off with Viper.

"You're getting old, Feral," the evil biochemist observed. "Perhapssss you should've brought your wheelchair?"

"I don't need a wheelchair, Viper," Commander Feral replied as the two circled each other. "But, when I'm through with you, you'll be needing one."

"I don't think sssso, Feral, I'll have you begging for mercy in seconds. Who'll save your niece then?"

Feral growled, knowing that he wouldn't be able to help Felina until Viper was taken care of. Withdrawing his side arm and taking aim, the Commander made the first move. Dr. Viper had expected as much and swung his tail around, knocking the gun from Feral's grasp and sending it clattering across the floor.

Now disarmed, the Enforcer Commander resorted to another tactic and lunged straight at Viper instead. With greater speed than the mad scientist had expected, he was tackled as both went tumbling end over end through the window that led to the exterior balcony dining area. Feral got back up first and let loose with a right hook, connecting solidly with Viper's jaw.

The evil biochemist was sent reeling at the impact and toppled over the nearby railing that guarded against accidental falling. Thinking quickly, he used his tail as a bullwhip, catching Commander Feral by the arm and dragging them both over the side.

"Gah!" Feral vocalized as he too went over the side, reaching out wildly with his other hand, barely managing to grab onto the ledge. The two foes now hung suspended between life and death, the massive cityscape bustling 300 stories below them.

"Well, isssssn't thisss interessssting?" Viper asked rhetorically as he increased the squeezing pressure on Feral's upper arm. The Enforcer Commander winced as he felt the blood circulation in his upper body begin to slow.

Beginning to perspire, Feral struggled to maintain his grip with the other arm.

"You idiot, Viper!" Feral shouted through gritted teeth. "You're going to kill us both!"

"That'ssss the point," Dr. Viper replied, chuckling in his unique way.

Commander Feral struggled for one last instant, desperately attempting to hang on, when the ledge cracked and broke apart from the rest of the building.

Feral dropped, only to be jerked upward as the grip on his arm intensified. Viper had managed to grab onto an exterior ledge, and was now the only thing hanging onto Feral.

"Lookssss like I've got the upper-hand, or is it tail?" the evil scientist chuckled in amusement. Before Feral could answer, Viper released, allowing the Enforcer Commander to plummet towards his demise.

"Careful now…let's see, Megakat Tower at coordinates 3455×83999 and…Whoa!" Razor shouted as he looked at his scopes. A lone figure was plummeting over the side of the top-level penthouse, falling quickly towards certain death.

"Hang on…" Razor gritted his teeth as he sent the Turbokat into full-throttle, rocketing towards the individual.

The result was instantaneous; plummeting downward Commander Feral rushed at high speed to what seemed to be his demise. Feral closed his eyes as he knew it would all be over soon. No more command, no more existence, nothing. It was over. He would never see his niece again, nor would he ever see the rest of his family. The Enforcers were leaderless, and the city would fall into doom and destruction.

Viper had won.

Abruptly, a sound similar to that of a gunshot interrupted Feral's mental reprieve and he felt something wrap around his legs and pull tight. His momentum rapidly halted, and the sense of falling ceased. Gradually opening his eyes, Feral found himself dangling by a few mere inches above pavement.

Looking up, he saw the all-too-familiar form of a hovering black jet above; from which he soon realized had shot a grappling cable to catch him mid-air. The canopy opened as an equally familiar kat shouted down to him.

"A little late to go skydiving, isn't it, Commander?" Razor called down.

Avoiding the usual banter, Feral replied quickly. "It's Dr. Viper!" Feral shouted from his more than slightly uncomfortable position. "He's got a room full of hostages along with my niece!"

Razor tensed as he heard those last few words. Felina was with Chance on the top floor of the tower, out to dinner with marriage proposal goals in mind. He would have found it humorous hadn't it been something as serious as Dr. Viper.

Reaching over to the grappling claw controls, Razor set Feral down on the street below, making sure that he got off the cable safely. Just as the Commander's feet hit the ground, the SWAT Kat increased the throttle, which sent the Turbokat rocketing upward in vertical thrust mode.

Bringing up the infrared display, Razor did a quick exterior scan of the top floor restaurant. There were several motionless kat-shaped heat signatures, all of them very faint. They were followed by an even greater number of unknown heat spikes that were very strong and glowed brighter than the ones that were still.

Upon closer scrutiny, Razor found one in particular that he had seen one too many times before.

"Dr. Viper," he muttered under his breath. "So that's why Chance called."

Bringing up his weapon's display, he considered his options. He could easily blow up the top floor, taking Viper and his mutated minions with him, but then he'd lose all the hostages, not to mention Felina and Chance.

He'd have to take a more complex form of action, one that he wasn't particularly fond of. Considering the options at hand, he realized that it wasn't a complex action that would solve the situation, but a quick action of surprise and accuracy. Praying for above all accuracy, Razor prepped the Turbokat.

Returning to the restaurant style penthouse, Dr. Viper supervised his mutant forces as they finished remodeling the restaurant to serve its new diabolical purpose. The hostages had all been subdued and were detained by vine restraints. Granted, some took a bit more persuasion than others to contain did, Viper thought to himself, still rubbing his sore jaw.

In the end, however, it had turned to his advantage, an advantage that many in his line of work had been trying hard to get. Thumbing through the unconscious kat's wallet, Viper found that his assailant was indeed Chance Furlong, some kind of garage mechanic. It made sense, Viper supposed as he tossed the item away.

"It makesssss no difference what you are, ssssSWAT Kat," Viper said aloud as he circled the unconscious form of Furlong. "Becaussssse in a matter of minutessss, Megakat City will fall to itssss kneessss, under my total control."

Briefly looking about the room, Viper saw that everything was in place. His last attempt to use Megakat Tower as a launching platform for his mutagenic spore pod had failed due to a number of factors. One such factor was the pod's slow growth rate, which had given the authorities time to lay waste to Viper's plans.

"Not thisssss time," Viper chuckled as he reached into his lab coat and withdrew a single round seed. "All I need do is add water, and my spore pod will grow to exponential proportions and then explode, covering this city in my mutagenic spores and transforming it into my Megaswamp City!"

The wall on the far side of the room abruptly exploded, sending large pieces of flaming debris flying into the air. A few of the assembled plantimals were caught off guard and crushed as a result.

Viper lurched, dropping the seed and allowing it to roll across the smooth marble floors.

"No!" Viper shouted as he looked to see what was happening. Hovering just beyond the newly "opened" opening in the wall was a sight that the mad scientist had developed a particular hatred for: the Turbokat.

Before he could react, he found himself knocked across the room, restrained against his will. An eight-armed missile, red in color had deployed itself around him, securely fastening him to a concrete pillar. His plantimals tried to rush to his aid, but were mowed down by machine-gun fire emanating from the hovering black jet.

In mere moments his forces were turned to nothing.

"Damn you!" Viper shouted from the very top of his lungs.

Despite his best efforts to keep all the weapons he used non-lethal, Razor did realize the necessity of conventional weaponry. Carefully selecting the 50-caliber machine gun for the rotating weapons pod, a weapon that he rarely used, he had managed to decimate Viper's forces. Looking through his scopes, he found that he'd managed to hit his mark.

Sighing with relief, Razor looked for a place to land.

Running with the vigor of someone half his age, Commander Feral, trailed by dozens of Enforcers, ran up the stairs of the building. The elevators were down for some reason, and helicopter support was 10 minutes away. Too long for Ulysses to wait, and he began the long ascent up the 300 story building.

After what seemed like an eternity, he burst onto the scene. There was a sticky black residue everywhere, along with bullet-holes from a heavy machine gun. Looking around, he found his niece still unconscious, her face an unnatural purple.

"Felina!" he shouted, rushing to her side. She wasn't breathing, and her body was extremely cold. An Enforcer chopper soon hovered into view, viewable through all the large holes in the facility's infrastructure. Standing up, he waved the chopper in closer, signaling for an emergency pickup.

Descending from jump-lines, two Enforcers carting along a stretcher made it next to Felina. Supervised by Feral, they quickly secured her, taking her back up into the chopper, the residual wind generated by the blades sending a strong gust about the room.

Feral watched the stretcher ascend.

Finding a suitable landing spot on the far side of the tower, Razor made his way to the smoldering Penthouse. Mostly intact, it had several holes that made it more comparable to a block of Swiss cheese. Entering from one such hole, he watched as Commander Feral assisted in putting someone into a stretcher who was then carried up and away.

"I wonder who that was?" Razor asked no one in particular as he began his search for Chance. The place was a mess; unconscious bodies were everywhere as EMT's disregarded the SWAT Kat and went about assessing the injured. It only took a few minutes, but it seemed like forever as Razor found a lone body far from the others.

"Chance!" he shouted, rushing over to the still form. Groaning in pain, the larger kat slowly awoke, rubbing his head. As he did, a realization returned as his expression reverted to that of anger.

"Where is he?" Chance shouted.

"Calm down, buddy. The situation's been handled. Viper's being handled by the Enforcers now," Razor said, trying to keep Chance from rushing up. Chance struggled for a moment, but stopped as an even larger form silently walked past. Razor paused as well; watching as Commander Feral made his way past them, not even bothering to look at them.

"Something's up," Razor whispered.

Even in his most stoic of moods, Feral had never ignored them like that. A "You stupid hotshots!" or "Reckless Vigilantes!" always ensued, but not this time. A sinking dread-filled feeling soon rose in Chance's stomach.

"No…" he whispered.

Commander Feral was walking towards the other side of the penthouse, where the Octopus missile that had Dr. Viper contained was. An Enforcer Sergeant was nearby, speaking to the contained criminal.

"You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to an attorney-" the Sergeant stopped abruptly as Viper spat in his face.

"You ssssstupid moronic sssssimpleton! I'm above your pathetic code of moralsssss and lawsssss. Sssssoon, you'll all regret the day you challenged Dr. Viper!"

Commander Feral had reached his destination, standing beside the Sergeant as he wiped his face off with a handkerchief.

"And you, Feral! I hope your niece decaysssss in the ground where sssssshe belongssss! I'll be putting you there too! All of you!" Viper shouted. "No one will-"

Razor's mouth gaped, wide open in shock as did Chance's. Viper's speech had stopped abruptly, so fast that the sound of gunfire had very slowly crept into their ears. The Sergeant gasped as well, noticing that his side arm was out of its holster, having been removed so quickly that he hadn't had time to react. He looked about for it, and found out where it had gone.

Smoke was still rising out of the barrel. The barrel of the gun held by Commander Feral.

A quiet filled the room, which was abruptly interrupted by an urgent knock on the door. Felina sighed as she regained her composure.

"Enter," she said, all traces of sadness gone in an instant, replaced with the stern look of duty and discipline once more.

"Commander, we've got a situation," a sergeant said as he walked in. "It's the Turbokat."

"What about it?" Felina asked.

"It's been stolen."

To be continued… 


	4. Chapter 4

Timeless – Part 4 Author – Modad Rating – T Warnings: Violence Disclaimer: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron," its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.

Former Enforcer Commander Ulysses Feral left the morgue, unsure what to think of the various matters that congested his mind. The body of the "Judge" was exactly what he assumed it would have been: an unidentifiable mass of flesh.

Nothing special or out of the ordinary, Feral thought to himself. Had it not been for the manner in which the body had become deceased, he would not have concerned himself with it at all. But, Jake Clawson's reputation, life and future hung in the balance.

"Bodies escape from the morgue all the time. Why couldn't it have done so today," Feral muttered as he walked to the building's parking lot and entered his sedan.

As he put the key in the ignition his police scanner came to life as well, turning the peaceful confines of the vehicle into an eruption of chatter.

"…repeat, rogue aircraft stolen. Enforcer air units intercept. Suspect is Jake Clawson a.k.a. Razor. He is armed and dangerous. Lethal force has not yet been approved…"

Feral frowned as he stepped on the gas pedal, sending the car speeding forward.

The memories continued to haunt Jake, as reality seemed to fade between the past and the present. The heads up display that overplayed the front of the canopy seemed to grow fuzzier with every passing moment while proximity alerts blared on the Turbokat's displays.

"He who hesitates is lost," the voice of Dark Kat said as Jake adjusted the pitch of the aircraft to narrowly avoid colliding with the pitch of a towering high rise.

"Hope you enjoy the future," the voice of the Pastmaster cackled.

Jake gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain control as the voices flooded his mind. He had not been there for Chance when he needed him. He had wasted both their lives in a scrap yard, ruining both their reputations for a moment of glory. Together they had risked their lives on countless occasions, never gaining recognition or advancing in life, only to age, die and be pursued.

The proximity warning came to life again as three Enforcer jets came up on the Turbokat, matching course and speed.

The radio crackled to life as a familiar voice spoke over the speakers.

"Jake, land the Turbokat. It's over," Commander Felina Feral said.

"What was the point, Felina?" Jake asked, a tear running down his face. "He's dead, they're all dead. We got to play cops and robbers together, and what did it get either of us?" Jake asked, noting for the first time in the canopy his own reflection.

Gray hairs had subtly replaced some of his features, and a receding hairline was starting to show.

"I can only give you one last warning," Felina said, struggling with the words. "I can't protect you any longer."

"You never should have in the first place," Jake responded, as he abruptly pulled back on the control stick. The Turbokat banked sharply upwards, the side of a skyscraper zooming by below like water rushing down a river.

The Enforcer jets did the same, climbing straight upwards as the tip of the building zoomed past and away, the sun filling the sky above.

It's a beautiful day, Jake thought to himself. Not a cloud in the sky. Warning klaxons blared as the engine lights blinked, signaling the oncoming of a stall.

"I'm a terrible pilot," Jake said somberly to himself as the vibration of the Turboprops ceased, the engines extinguishing like the butts of discarded cigarettes.

"Commander, he's going to stall. That aircraft is fully fueled and still carrying an active payload," a flanking Enforcer pilot radioed. "If it crashes into the city, it could kill hundreds."

Felina Feral grimaced, her flight helmet feeling more claustrophobic than ever. She could clearly see the Turbokat through her canopy as it started to arch backwards like a breaching whale, the force of gravity equalizing the descent so that for just one moment, it hung weightless in the sky, fully illuminated by the sun.

The glimmer of the jet-black, radar-absorbing paint shone brightly, and in that moment she saw Jake's silhouette. Razor, the SWAT Kat, alone, holding his hand to the canopy.

The moment ended, and the Turbokat dropped downwards.

"Permission to engage?" the other flaking pilot pleaded as they sloped in a loop in pursuit.

Felina held up the ring Chance had given her so many years ago. Why she still carried it she did not know. She clasped it in a fist, as she closed her eyes, leveling off her descent.

"Do it."

Mayor Callie Briggs walked across Megakat Square, just outside of the City Hall clock tower. Despite the mass-merge of surrounding areas into the Ultrakat district, old Megakat Square still managed to draw in both tourism and commerce. It was a historical site after all. Many an important event had occurred there, several of which she'd had the so-called "honor" of being a part of.

"Care for a hot dog, Mayor Briggs?" a nearby vendor asked.

"Not today. Had too many of those during Manx's old campaigns," Callie said with a smile.

"And so did he," the vendor replied.

Callie chuckled at the quip, but her humor ceased as she saw in the reflection of the city hall windows a large flame that was rapidly descending. She dove forward into the vendor as they both fell over the hot dog stand as a flaming piece of debris collided in the sidewalk where they had just been standing.

Other pedestrians and motorists did the same as small bits of flaming debris crashed into trees, cars and even a fire hydrant, causing a small geyser of water to spray into the air.

"What was that?" Callie asked aloud, looking up from her vantage point on the ground as three Enforcer jets zoomed past.

Former Enforcer Commander Ulysses Feral watched as the sky ignited with flames, and the Turbokat became no more. Three Enforcer jets flew past, one of them banking around and initiating its vertical landing mode as it gracefully landed on the street.

Feral stopped his sedan and exited, knowing full well who it was. As she descended from the jet, stepping to the ground she had barely the time to remove her helmet before Feral was up to her.

"You could have found another way," he said loudly, authoritatively and meaner than he intended.

Felina snapped to attention out of reflex, years upon years of Command authority melting away in an instant as her uncle stared her down.

"Sir, there was no other way," she said, a lip quivering and a tear rolling down her cheek as she dropped a small golden item that bounced briefly on the concrete street before rolling to a stop.

Feral's composure abruptly changed, as he saw his niece like he had never seen her before. Sad, vulnerable, and no longer possessing the confidence he had thought she would never lose. He said nothing more as he pulled her close and hugged her, the tears seemingly endless from both as the media caravan began to arrive.

I have survived, Jake Clawson thought to himself as consciousness returned to him. How many countless occasions should I have died? Why am I so lucky, while Chance was so unlucky? His random fears that plagued him at every corner, leading him to try and overcome, to be something more. He always wanted to prove himself.

"He never needed to prove anything to me," Jake said aloud as he hoisted himself out of the ejector seat. He had landed in an open dumpster. His chute had not opened. "One in a million chance," he said, realizing the odds.

He climbed out slowly, dragging his body out and standing on shaky legs. His whole body ached, and he felt that he had broken a few bones. A small conveniences store was just around the corner, and he staggered towards it.

Upon entering, the clerk manning the register looked up from a small TV and the expression on his face told Jake all he needed to know about his injuries.

"Uh…band-aid?" Jake asked.

"Last aisle," the clerk said, a bit beside himself.

Jake made his way towards the last aisle at the back of the store. A door leading to the back room had been left open, revealing a separate parking lot behind the store. Beyond it was a road sign that showed the distance to Megakat Springs. Beyond that, open road.

Jake eventually found the band-aids, and rummaged through the available medical supplies. As he did, he could hear the clerk's TV, and the familiar sound of Ann Gora's voice.

"…if you're just joining us we have some unfortunate news. Fugitive Jake Clawson, wanted as a person of interest in last month's incident involving the terrorist known as the Judge stole an impounded aircraft an Enforcer headquarters. Clawson, better known as the SWAT Kat Razor, evaded authorities for a short while until his aircraft was destroyed mid-air. The details are still coming in, but it is confirmed that Clawson is dead. Stay tuned to Kat's Eye News for more details…"

I'm dead, Jake thought to himself, almost amused. Before he could ponder the implications of such a statement, the convenience store door opened as a tall individual wearing a ski-mask approached the cashier.

The clerk held up his hands as the masked assailant drew a pistol and started making demands.

"Open the register and put all the money in a bag!" the assailant ordered.

The store clerk, so startled, fell back momentarily.

"Get up!" the robber shouted. "Open the register and get the money out. I'm not going to ask again!" he said as he pulled back the hammer on the weapon with an ominous click.

"Please, don't shoot me!" the clerk said as he struggled to his feet and opened the cash register, messily spilling the contents onto the counter and hurriedly trying to put them into a plastic bag.

Jake stayed low, grimacing as his aching body begged him not to move. The back door of the convenience store, still opened, seemed to beckon him towards it. He could leave, move to another city, and start over where no one had ever heard of Megakat City, the SWAT Kats or Commander Feral. Somewhere where freak occurrences involving terrorists, megalomaniacs, sorcerers and all kinds of destruction were unheard of. Somewhere where Jake Clawson and Razor would never be recognized waited.

A bus pulled into view, stopping just beside the road sign, its destination leading out towards the open road. The door opened, seemingly waiting.

"What is this?" the robber nearly screamed. "There's less than a hundred bucks in here!"

"W-we just opened," the clerk said, stammering. "There's been no business for today."

The robber clenched his teeth as his eyes glared through the ski-mask, until they fell upon a small safe.

"Open up the safe!"

"I-I can't! I just work here, I wasn't even supposed to be here today!" the cashier said.

The robber brought the gun forward and shot the clerk square in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground, his face in pain, but no audible noise being made.

"That was a warning. Now, open the safe or I start aiming higher!"

"Hey, leave him alone," a quiet voice called from behind the assailant.

The masked robber spun around, gun aimed towards the voice. To his surprise, he found someone of under-average height, looking as if he'd just been in a car accident, facing him.

"On the floor buddy!" he ordered, clicking the hammer into place once more. "Or I make another bad addition to your looks!"

Jake held his ground, judging the distance and his condition. He saw that the robber wasn't afraid to use the pistol, and he likewise knew that he was in no condition to physically stop him. His glovatrix had been lost in the ejection.

"It's the same story. A continuous cycle. I've stopped many like you, many worse than you. Some did it for greed; others did it due to some psychotic delusion," Jake said.

"Worse than me? Story? I'll tell you why I'm doing this: I'm sick of being underscored, that's why. I need the cash, and I'm taking it," he replied, aiming the pistol. "My stories don't have a happy ending."

Jake felt the cold impact of the bullet long before he heard the discharge. A familiar feeling; he had been shot many times before. This time was different, as he felt the wind knocked out of him, and his perspective was suddenly from the floor.

"That's what you get for trying to play a hero," the robber said as he turned back to the register.

Jake tasted the familiar metallic taint of blood as the crimson fluid leaked from his mouth. He could see the bus outside the store from the still open back entrance. Its doors closed as its engine came to life, taking its passengers away, disappearing down the road.

The view became more obscured as Jake's vision began to dull, the florescent lights above not seeming very bright at all.

"Maybe we did something good," Jake said to himself. "Maybe we did more than just play the hero."

"We did," Chance Furlong's voice replied in Jake's head. "Playing eventually ends, but doing something right, something just, something that makes a real difference. That's timeless."

"It is…" Jake said, as he felt the beating of his heart slow. It continued for a few moments more, until it finally ceased, and Jake's chest stopped moving, his last breath sighing out of him as his eyes rolled back.

Laying there, in a pool of his own blood in the middle of a convenience store, the SWAT Kat known as Razor lay dead.

A cocky fighter jock, a clever inventor and talented marksman were the traits of his character, but like many before him and many to come after him, he and those close to him had played the role of hero, filling in for a time of need at both personal and public expense. The game had not been fair, with cheats on both sides, but the results could not be disputed.

Despite the mortal constraints, their actions would speak louder than words, so that a city full of memories could progress unhindered, overcoming the brief hesitation of loss, hopeful that those sacrifices of its many protectors could bring better tomorrows. 


End file.
